Pakistan's Rush To Develop Tactical Nukes Is Raising Concerns

Photo Credit: Inter Services Public Relations (Pakistan Military)

New Year, New Problem? Pakistan’s Tactical Nukes -- Shashank Joshi, The Diplomat

Pakistan is developing a new generation of smaller "tactical" nuclear weapons. The dangers and challenges such arms present are very real.

October of last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Many Asian policymakers will read the lessons of that harrowing episode with some self-satisfaction.

When India and Pakistan conducted their nuclear weapon tests in 1998, foreign analysts repeatedly told them that, as poor countries with weak institutions, they could not be entrusted with such awesome weaponry. Nascent nuclear powers were simply less reliable stewards than their Cold War counterparts. Over a decade on, and multiple crises later — Kargil in 1999, a military standoff in 2001-2, and the Mumbai attacks of 2008 — India and Pakistan have experienced nothing quite as perilous as the Cuban scare.

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My Comment: A nuclear arms race is not what the world needs right now .... especially in Asia.